Overall thoughts
Clearly, we started a little slow on the physical stakes. They got on the front foot quite early and the class of the spine capitalised on the momentum their big guys got. I'm not sure at what point are you rescuing the game. I don't know, maybe I could have made changes earlier in the game perhaps. But I didn't think it was fatigue that was causing the issue. I just felt everything was rolling their way and even at times when we made a tackle or the ball bounced it was one of those days when it bounced the other way and that was due to us not being urgent or purposeful enough at times.
Positives
Erm... another opportunity next week. I thought most of the second half we were in a battle. That's when the opposition has the scoreboard covered at that stage but we found out about the group sticking together and we managed to string a few plays together at times and send a little bit back their way, but they had a lot more plays than us first half and it's always hard chasing your tail.
What he learned
We started a bit slow in our last pre-season match and then did so again. That's probably something to think about but we constantly review on my own decision-making. It's round one, and it's important for sure, we're disappointed in the performance but you can read a lot into it and you can certainly read too much into it. We'll dust ourselves off and review it on Saturday.
Read more: Leeds Rhinos player ratings with debutant the standout in dismal display
Debutants
I thought Olpherts overall was very good, classy finish, carried well in yardage, good body language and energy. He looked like he was loving wearing that jersey.
Luis Roberts did a pretty good job as a kid. We're missing some strike and seasoned players there but that kid has done a tremendous job in the pre-season, I've a lot of faith in that kid, he's going to grow with our team.
Sam (Lisone) will be better for the hit-out, I thought his second shift was pretty good, he got a taste for how the English game is and he did OK.
Justin (Sangare) did alright, he did OK. He played a good shift there, he's not used to playing big minutes but he played maybe 25 or 28 there from memory. I thought it wasn't an individual thing today, it was the collective efforts of each other, if we won a tackle we couldn't win the next one. We couldn't build flow to our defence or to our attack and that was a collective
The centres
It wasn't a day for combinations but I thought Luis and Ash both looked comfortable, not comfortable, but they looked ready to play that position and we'll keep assessing. It will evolve and people will put their flag in the ground at some point. At the moment it's picking our best players and working out positions after that.
Warrington's easy yardage
I think we read a lot into that, there were plenty of times last year when we won games and teams struggled to score tries against us but they were making metres, so it's really the execution of the opposition big play and or kick that was key. The momentum of going backwards isn't something we're striving for but you've got to tolerate it at some point. We just couldn't get anything back the other way because the opposition attack doesn't have as much energy if you're attacking them, but we just couldn't get the ball back because we weren't defending well enough to earn the ball back. It's the complimentary nature of defence and attack helping each other. When we got a bit of that we were fine. But it's getting that bit first that's a focus for sure.
Lack of cohesion on the goal-line
Rather than generalising, I'd have to understand which situations we were looking for. But each coach in the competition would say you want to get forward on the goal line as far as you can depending on what position you're in, whether you're a long way from the ball depends on how far you can get forward. There was certainly some disconnection there and we'll need to be better but I think our yardage defence is more an area to improve.
Is Sam Lisone still building his fitness?
I think so, it's a big thing to have a few months in limbo and you're waiting for visas and work permits. Then you get here in December and the weather is different and it's a shorter pre-season than players are used to in the NRL. There are a lot of things that are different for Sam, waiting for his partner to come over, get a house and that sort of stuff. I was under no illusions it would take time for him to get to his best and he started that tonight.
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